Project Danger Den Water Box Plus Case Review (Part 1)

Introduction:

So you are looking for a case for that next big project you have planned? Well so are we. While trying to make up our minds, several things were thrown out to chew on. Steel, Aluminum or Acrylic? Next, what were we going to do for cooling and how do we want to do it? The more common options for day to day use are water cooling, phase change cooling or just plain ol' high end air cooling. Each type of cooling has its pros and cons. Whatever we decided on had to look good as well as be functional without a whole lot of maintenance, plus give us the ability to really lean on our hardware.

After weighing the options on the case we decided on an acrylic case. The reason for that is it kind of fits our "looks good" requirement. With the wow factor that a well done acrylic cases presents, it was a no brainer. Now seeing that acrylic is the way we want to go, what looks just incredible in an acrylic case? You guessed it! A well designed water cooling system. Throw a little UV dye in the fluid, along with a board with UV reactive components and wiring, and it just looks amazing.

With those decisions made, now we have to look at what to buy and who to buy it from. What we decided to do was to get all of our equipment from one supplier. This way, there will be no mis-matched components and everything should work well as a "system" instead of piecing a system together and hoping for the best. When kicking around our options, we decided on Danger Den as the supplier we would use for this project. They have been at the forefront of the water cooling market for years and offer a full line of products.

Closer Look:

While waiting for the package to arrive I noticed the shipping weight on the tracking page; a whopping 38 pounds. I was eager to see where the weight came from. The boxes the case came in were your standard cardboard shipping boxes. The box that contained the two case boxes was beat up pretty bad so I hoped that the case itself would be undamaged. I was relieved once the boxes were opened up and the contents checked for damage.

I was curious how the many parts would be protected during shipping. What the company does is wrap each panel onto the next in the stack to prevent any movement. This eliminates any scratches on the new acrylic. After taking 20 minutes to unwrap the panels we can see just what comes with the case. You may notice some colored panels in the stack of panels; these are custom case parts that will be discussed shortly.

DangerDen provides everything needed to assemble the case from the hex-head cap screws to the power and reset switches. They even supply the tool that is an absolute must for assembly of the case, an Allen wrench or hex key wrench. The colored panels you saw earlier are ones that are available at an extra cost. 15 dollars each will get you the colored panels. We chose the orange and blue panels, as those are our colors. The company also includes the original panels so that if you choose to go back to a completely clear case, you can without any hassle. The etched side panel with our logo on it is another of the options available. Your design can be etched into the case as well for an additional cost. While examining the panels, it appears as though all of the panels are lazer cut.